Final Fixed-wing Landing On CV60 USS Saratoga

[DougGuy]

This is not what you would think it is but it's still cool nonetheless. I didn't sail on the Sinkin' Sara but I burned a lot of welding rods on her hull in Philly Navy Yard drydock in 1981, oh we had a heck of a crew there. Poker games down in the innerbottoms, saw the Stones and George Thorogood at RFK when they opened their Steel Wheels tour, it was neat, the stage sticking WAY up out the top of the stadium, they spent 3 days testing the sound system and tuning Journey's drums, you could hear it all over the yard.

She was decommissioned in 1994 and scrapped in 2014, the skipper brought along a neat RC version of a WWII Corsair that was fitted with a camera and took some video of the ship under tow to Brownsville, TX and the scrap torches. I can't hate on Harbor Freight tools anymore, they are made from the ghosts of our biggest struggle for freedom.



http://www.youtu.be/watch?v=qyk-Em8IpjA

This footage was taken by Clint Walker (no, not the actor), the pilot of both the ship and the Rc Corsair you’re about to see in the video. This strangely weird combination might not be what you’d expect, but together makes for a pretty neat story and video.

USS Saratoga was commissioned in 1956 and served for almost four decades until 1994.

Onboard the USS Saratoga, he was piloting the ship from Newport, Rhode Island to her final resting place in Brownsville, Texas. There, she was to be dismantled and recycled. On this sad journey however, Clint decided to do something fun in his downtime.

Apparently an Rc enthusiast, he figured he’d give the ol’ Sara one final landing. Bringing an awesome little Corsair onboard the ship, he laid her down on an actual carrier deck and let her rip.

The takeoff was a bit choppy as the wind must have been a bit too rough for such a small plane, but she got up and Clint got us some amazing aerial views of Saratoga’s last trip out to sea. Great job and thanks!

[Freightman]

Proud old lady Thanks !

[Bad Water Bill]

I still have the Model plane I tried to learn to fly from the deck of the USS INDEPENDENCE CVA 62 on her maiden voyage to Gitmo.

Probably the first crash landing on her nice new decking.

Still have a sticker they packed inside each pack of cigarettes staring at me as I type.

Do they still pack those WELCOME ABOARD stickers in the packs today?

Those were the days.

[Idaho Mule]

Thanks DougGuy!! I made 3 Med cruises on the ol' Sara. Can't even begin to tell all that I saw aboard that ship but it sure was an adventure. I first went aboard in the Bay of Naples in late 1977. Rode it thru until fall of 1980 (late summer??) when we returned to Mayport. That was her last cruise until you got to overhaul her up in Philly. I could've stayed aboard and made the trip to Philly but I opted to transfer to NAS JAX and finish my enlistment, and then come home. Thanks for the memories. I have to wonder if there are others here on the site that were there. Thanks again. JW

[quail4jake]

Great video! How sad to see her go. No matter who the present occupant of the White House is...Ronald Reagan IS the President of the United States and he would recommission the Saratoga after complete restoration. He did it 30 years ago with many other outdated naval dreadnaughts and defeated the "evil empire"! Every time I see another icon of American Military and Naval might "recycled" I can't help but think "who will defend us now?"... Thanks again!

[Frank46]

Idaho Mule, you moored next to us at mayport. I was on the USS Franklin D Roosevelt CVA 42 from 1965 to late 1967. Sinkin Sara was one of the nicknames I've heard about. Remember seeing clouds of black smoke more than a few times when she was at the dock lighting off prior to sailing. Actually ran into a bunch of ex sara sailors while shopping down here. They were attending a reunion. I believe she had 1200 psi steam system where we had the old 600 psi system. Frank

[Char-Gar]

I live in the Brownsville, Texas area and every Saturday drive by the ship breaking firms on my way out to our shooting range. I watched as the Saratoga was cut up getting smaller week by week. It was very sad.

There are three ship breaking firms down here, and each one got a carrier to cut up.

[Artful]

Thanks for posting that amazing video

Here's Sara on the cutting edge!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFIcy0cnEIs

[Artful]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oib6zPc6Gis

[Artful]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-nzZBMdU1w

[Artful]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLGoDfAwNLk

[Bad Water Bill]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oib6zPc6Gis

And the Rabdu (CVA15 USS RANDOLPH) snuck in a guest appearance at 27.28.

Just can not keep her in hiding.

So long sister Sarah.

[Blackwater]

This almost brought a tear to my eyes. My old ship, the Bexar, an old LPA (#237) was sold to Japan and my understanding is they made razor blades out of her. Sure makes me wonder every time I shave these days. It's funny how one becomes so attached to an old ship, but it's very real. At sea, something that keeps you afloat and brings you home kind'a tends to become rather 'special' to a guy. Ships have always been about adventure, danger (from the sea itself sometimes) and overcoming it all with the help of friends on board. I still get wistful when I think about my old ship, and it'd be impossible to expand it out to the Sara. Shipboard life is different from any other condition man can come up with. Even the guys who you ordinarily couldn't relate to or stand at all become your allies. There's a good lesson in that, I think. Sure matures a young man pretty quickly!

[Frank46]

Spent approx 2.5 years on the Rosie. Didn't get off the day I was supposed to due to heavy ground swells in the Bay of Naples. They brought in a mike boat and were going to put a cargo net over the fantail when one swell pushed the mike boat under the fantail. Very loud bang and when they reversed engines the door on the bow was badly damaged and the coxswain told the officer it was way too dangerous. Next day the ground swells were better so got off via liberty launch. Was very sad at least to me when we looked back and saw her for the last time knowing I wouldn't sail with her when she left port. I agree shipboard life is different than any other condition man can come up with. Local newspaper had a dig about the guys who sailed the china seas during the Vietnam war. Was in the editorial section. I took the guy who wrote the section to task for his down playing the role we played. Went something like this. When stuff breaks down we fix it underway, when there was a fire we did the firefighting, when someone died we mourned his passing. I was a snipe in the engineering dept so knew what I was talking about. I was 17 when I enlisted and dad had to sign the papers, did a lot of growing up and don't regret it at all. Thanks for the memories. Frank

[MtGun44]

A relative was an officer on Sara, and I attended the decommissioning. A great
ship, very sad to see her go.

Bill

[jonp]

That's a great video! Help us non-Navy guys out. Why was it called "Sinkin Sara"?

[Lloyd Smale]

cool video. wonder how many pilots had the same view through the years?

[Bad Water Bill]

cool video. wonder how many pilots had the same view through the years?

And for how many brave men that was the LAST view they ever had?

Job done and fairwell pilots.

[Artful]

That's a great video! Help us non-Navy guys out. Why was it called "Sinkin Sara"?

Saratoga was a name used more than once by USN

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Saratoga_(CV-3)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaFvcsH_fAY


USS Saratoga (CV-3) was a Lexington-class (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexington-class_aircraft_carrier)aircraft carrier (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_carrier) built for the United States Navy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy)during the 1920s. Originally designed as a battlecruiser (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlecruiser), she was converted into one of the Navy's first aircraft carriers during construction to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty) of 1922.

The ship entered service in 1928 and was assigned to the Pacific Fleet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Pacific_Fleet) for her entire career.Saratoga and her sister ship (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_ship), Lexington (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lexington_(CV-2)), were used to develop and refine carrier tactics in a series of annual exercises before World War II (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II). On more than one occasion these included successful surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor),Hawaii (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii). She was one of three prewar US fleet aircraft carriers, along with Enterprise (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(CV-6)) and Ranger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ranger_(CV-4)), to serve throughout World War II.
Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor), Saratoga was the centerpiece of the unsuccessful American effort to relieve Wake Island (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wake_Island) and was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine a few weeks later.

After lengthy repairs, the ship supported forces participating in the Guadalcanal Campaign (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalcanal_Campaign) and her aircraft sank the light carrier Ryūjō (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Ry%C5%ABj%C5%8D) during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Eastern_Solomons) in August 1942.

She was again torpedoed the following month and returned to the Solomon Islands (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Islands) area after repairs were completed.
In 1943, Saratoga supported Allied forces involved in the New Georgia Campaign (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Georgia_Campaign) and invasion of Bougainville (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougainville_Campaign) in the northern Solomon Islands and her aircraft twice attacked the Japanese base at Rabaul (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Rabaul_(November_1943)) in November. Early in 1944, her aircraft provided air support during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands Campaign (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_and_Marshall_Islands_campaign) before she was transferred to the Indian Ocean (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean) for several months to support the British Eastern Fleet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Fleet) as it attacked targets in Java (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java) and Sumatra (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatra). After a brief refit in mid-1944, the ship became atraining ship (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Training_ship) for the rest of the year.
In early 1945, Saratoga participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima) as a dedicated night fighter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_fighter) carrier. Several days into the battle, she was badly damaged by kamikaze (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze) hits and was forced to return to the United States for repairs.

While under repair, the ship, now increasingly obsolete, was permanently modified as a training carrier with some of her hangar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangar) deck converted into classrooms. Saratoga remained in this role for the rest of the war and was used to ferry troops back to the United States after the Japanese surrender in August. In mid-1946, the ship was a target for nuclear weapon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon) tests during Operation Crossroads (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads). She survived the first test with little damage, but was sunk by the second test.

[RKJ]

That's a great video! Help us non-Navy guys out. Why was it called "Sinkin Sara"?

I came aboard in Philly of January 83 and left in July of 85. Spent a lot of time on board the Sara. Jon, the story goes she sunk at the pier at Mayport. It's been too long for me to remember the complete story though. I recall the Skipper (John Ready) telling us over the 1MC after we left Philly that after SLEP she was "Super Sara". Good times & memories.

[No_1]

I PCS'ed from Charleston Naval Shipyard to become a member of the Mayport Voyage Repair Team in 1991. My position as an Outside Machinist brought me in contact with the Aircraft Launch & Recovery Equipment on the carriers stationed in Mayport as well as Norfolk. I spent a lot of time on the Saratoga as well as Forrestal and Kennedy repairing / overhauling the Catapults and Arresting gear. One more than one occasion I was also fortunate enough to fly out with a team to accomplished CASREP repairs while they were underway. I will NEVER forgot my first "trap"or "launch".

[Idaho Mule]

This thread is way COOL to me. It is good to hear what others know about the Mighty Sara. I also heard that she was dubbed the Sinkin' Sara because of an "incident" at the pier in Mayport. Before my time. Another nickname was "The Suckin'60 from Dixie". To me, I will always remember her as the Mighty Saratoga. As said earlier I had some good times touring the Med. (3 times!!) aboard the Sara. Being of western heritage, I hooked up with some other like minded guys and we soon formed the Saratoga Rodeo Club. Our Captain at that time was a man by the name of James H. Flatly III, and he was an awsome guy. He did not know about rodeo but he told us "Boys, we have great doctors aboard to patch you up, and an International Airport on the roof, just let me know where ya need to be and I'll get ya there." He did too, that has always meant a lot to me. Me, I rode bulls for them.

During my time aboard I was also privy to 2 separate "collisions at sea". The first was while we were re-fueling from the USNS Waccama (??) Spelling may be off, anyway, we were alongside and the tanker lost rudder control and crashed into us. My fire station was a sponson just aft of hanger bay 1, and it got wiped off the side of the ship. We mustered just inboard of the missing sponson, and luckily no fire. We had to go into Naples for a couple weeks of repairs after that.

Second crash occured as we were going thru the Strait of Messina, between the toe of Italy, and Sicily. An, I believe, Libyan flagged smaller ship (about 150-200 ft) rammed us broadside as we were traversing the strait. We went to GQ, all our escorts closed ranks behind us and we hit the throttle. I had been thru some high speed runs on the Sara before during work-ups, but that one there took the cake. Not knowing for sure, but I bet she got up to 45 knots or so once we hit the open sea, turned into the wind and got birds launched. Close to being one of those "International incidents" I believe. I was heading back to my shop after midrats when that wreck happened. The offender tore a giant hole in the side of the Sara, above waterline, but still impressive. The offender also sank, it tore the heck out of that thing.

The Saratoga's mascot was a "Fighting Cock". Had to do with the first (correct me if I'm wrong) US warship named Saratoga, Capt. kept a real fighting cock in a cage aboard and as they were in some battle the chicken was blasted free of his cage and Cock-a-doodle-doed his defiance to the attackers. Anyway, if one walked thru a airport on his way home on leave and was lugging a suitcase with a giant sticker that said "THE FIGHTING COCK" he would get strange looks, and also a wide berth. JW

[flyingmonkey35]

So dose she have lead ballests that we can turn into Boolits?


Awesome history there

[Bad Water Bill]

MEMORIES

The first time I went thru those straits was about 2300 and it looked like our carrier had been dropped into a pond surrounded by street lights everywhere.

A shipmate helped build the USS Forrestal and watched when she did her first high speed run.

According to him a squad car clocked her at 60 MPH using their radar gun.